Urinary incontinence is an involuntary release of urine when increases in abdominal pressure caused by sneezing, coughing, or exercising, for example, are not uniformly transmitted to the proximal urethra, resulting in urine “leakage.” Moderate urinary incontinence is inconvenient and can be a social and hygienic problem, while severe urinary incontinence can be disabling. Urinary incontinence occurs in women and is caused by for example, hypermobility of the bladder neck and proximal urethra (excessive downward and rotational movement of the bladder neck) or intrinsic sphincter deficiency.
Urinary incontinence affects a large number of women and, consequently, various approaches have been developed to treat female urinary incontinence. Those skilled in the art will be familiar with approaches ranging from pelvic floor exercises to surgical techniques such as Burch colposuspension and Stamey type endoscopic procedures in which the sutures are placed so as to elevate the bladder neck.
One known procedure positions a support, i.e., a sling loosely under the urethra. It is generally understood that this treatment alleviates urinary incontinence by occluding the mid-urethra (for example at a time of raised abdominal pressure by coughing or the like).
Problems associated with surgical correction of the failed support mechanisms include under-correction or over-correction. The surgeon must determine the degree of support necessary to properly elevate and support the urethra to properly address the urinary incontinence problem. This determination must be made both pre-, intra-, and post-operatively. Too little elevation causes urinary incontinence to remain, although the degree of incontinence may be reduced. Too much elevation can result in voiding dysfunction (reduced capacity or inability to void), leading to prolonged catheterization, and the need for postoperative correction.
The incidence of postoperative urinary retention due to post-operative obstruction can be high at several weeks after surgery, and a number of patients have post-operative urinary retention that persists. Symptomatic detrusor instability represents the bladder's response to increased outlet resistance caused by an improperly tensioned sling. The incidence of post-operative irritative symptoms secondary to detrusor instability can be unacceptably high. Appropriate tensioning of the suburethral support, i.e., sling minimizes persistent incontinence and voiding dysfunction. However, appropriate tensioning during surgery is difficult to assess and frequently is found to be excessive or insufficient once the patient has assumed normal posture and movement post-operatively. Methods and devices for immediate and short term post-operative adjustment of the tension in a suburethral support member, i.e., sling for the treatment of urinary incontinence are needed to mitigate the post-operative complications associated with inappropriate tensioning of the sling.